Whether
you bought your home last month or have owned your home
for twenty years, if you live in the California Proposition
13 is protecting you.
The first benefit is that even the most recent homebuyers pay
about 1/3 of the property
taxes that they would without Proposition 13. The initiative
simply keeps the general level of property taxation lower and
fairer. Without Proposition 13, many new buyers could not afford
both their mortgage
payments and their taxes.
Proposition 13 also gives new homeowners long-term security
by providing predictability in taxes. Property taxes are
levied once a year. The tax "rate" is applied
to the value of your home to determine your tax bill. Proposition
13 helps you by limiting the maximum tax rate to 1%. If
a home has a value of $250,000, the owner will see a tax
bill of $2,500. But what happens when the value of your
property goes up? In other states, if the value of your
home doubles, so does your property tax bill. But because
of Proposition 13, here in California the taxable value
of your home can only go up 2% per year. Thanks to Proposition
13, new buyers know exactly what their taxes will be next
year, in five years, and in 30 years -- reassuring information
for those who plan to live in their homes when they retire.
But this wasn't always the case. Prior to the passage of
Proposition 13, many homeowners shuddered in fear when their
property tax bills arrived. Tax increases of 20%, 50%, even
100% in one year were common, yet
amazingly, some politicians and special interest groups
argue for a return to the old system!
See more information on saving on property taxes with the
California Homeowners
Exemption and save money every year!
